All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
tl;dr: I recently returned from my first visit to Brazil, where I spoke at a Lean Six Sigma conference, led a workshop on Process Behavior Charts, and visited two organizations applying Lean principles. From churrascarias to Gemba walks, this trip…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Transformation and quality improvement is rarely sustained without changing management behaviours and management systems. John Toussaint writes about the challenges of adopting lean management systems in the NHS in “Is quality a strategy or an operation?”.…
Thanks to the Measures of Success reader who reached out with a question about their hospital’s display of data in units and departments. They shared the current state method for displaying data and asked me to compare it to a…
Here is a review and summary of my book Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More that was posted on LinkedIn by Manasi Kekan MD MSBE MMM FACP. Thanks to Dr. Kekan for writing it. She shares a…
On October 15th, I hosted the latest in our KaiNexus Continuous Improvement Webinar series. I’m really happy that the presenter was Paul Wainright, as he has been a great advocate for KaiNexus. Click here to view the recording of the…
We have a new guest host for Episode #8 of Lean Whiskey. I’m joined by my friend and colleague Cristal Totterman and we’re drinking gin today on her recommendation… so this is “Lean Gin.” We’re also enjoying what Cristal calls…
tl;dr: Headlines about baseball trends–like Bryce Harper’s performance, game length, or declining attendance–can be misleading. Using Process Behavior Charts, we can distinguish between meaningful signals and routine noise. This post shows how to apply that thinking to baseball metrics, with…
Last week was our fifth annual KaiNexus User Conference (or “KaiNexicon” as we now call it). One of our keynote speakers was Jess Orr, a former Toyota engineer who shared perspectives on what it was like to now lead continuous…
tl;dr: We often label small changes as “Just Do Its,” but that can skip over useful thinking. Even the simplest Kaizen can follow a quick PDSA cycle–Plan, Do, Study, Adjust–to ensure we’re learning and improving, not just acting. Maybe it’s…
tl;dr: Red/green metrics and single-point comparisons hide important signals in your data. Time-series charts and Process Behavior Charts reveal when systems actually change–and when leaders should learn instead of overreact. In many organizations, leaders rely on red/green color-coding to evaluate…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Globally, at least 5 patients die every minute due to unsafe care. For Patient Safety Week, the World Health Organization is calling for urgent action to reduce patient harm in healthcare. On this theme, Manitoba discloses…
TL;DR: The wedge metaphor, often used to represent standardized work in Lean, can send the wrong message. Instead of assuming people will backslide without enforcement, we should focus on engaging them in meaningful improvements they want to sustain. Maybe it’s…
